Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Temple had a shot at Bruce Arians in 2006 and 2011, but virtually no shot now.

WANTED: HEAD COACH, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY _ Large, urban, school in nation's fourth-largest market, seeks HEAD coach for up-and-coming BCS program. School is committed to winning at the highest level of football and a new president is coming on board in January whose stated top two priorities are success at fund raising and winning in the Big East. Successful candidates will have had WINNING seasons as a HEAD coach at an FBS school. Philadelphia-area connections a plus, but not necessary. No current assistant coaches need apply.

When you hire an assistant coach, you are just as likely to get a Ron Dickerson as you are an Al Golden or a Steve Addazio

There's a reason why they call the position HEAD coach.
That's how I see the specific criteria for the next Temple University football coach.
Temple football owes a debt of gratitude to Al Golden, a driven young assistant coach, who built the program.
It owes somewhat less to Steve Addazio, another career assistant, who recruited a fine class last year.
In a way, both were crap shoots because, when you hire an assistant coach, you are just as likely to get a Ron Dickerson as you are an Al Golden or a Steve Addazio.
Now, though, this is the most important hire in the history of Temple University and the school needs a proven winner as a head coach. Remove the guesswork by hiring a guy who has won as a head coach before at the FBS level. Period, end of story.
Current Indianapolis Colts' head coach Bruce Arians would fit the criteria, and was a leading candidate for the Temple job in both 2006 and 2011, but his career has advanced far past Temple's pay grade and I'm afraid he's out.
So it leaves those current hot college head coaches. An assistant would be a big mistake now.
I think it's important Temple work quickly because these guys are being rumored for other jobs.
That narrows the field thusly:

YES TO (in order):

Former Temple assistant Mike MacIntyre

MIKE MACINTYRE, current head coach San Jose State _ MacIntyre, against an impossible recruiting, funding and facilities disadvantage, went 10-2 and has the Spartans in a bowl game. One of his two losses was to PAC-12 champion Stanford by a 20-17 score. One of the wins was over BYU. Another was a 52-24 pounding of a 9-3 Louisiana Tech team.
MacIntrye has Temple connections and knows all about the program, having been the Owls' defensive coordinator in 1997 and 1998. He had San Jose State, with about as much talent as Temple had this year, playing at a much higher level than Temple. MacIntrye, a finalist for the Temple job in 2011, was the only possible name mentioned as a successor on a 5:45 p.m. KYW report by Temple play-by-play man Harry Donahue. I agree with Harry, who is a very good friend of Temple AD Bill Bradshaw. Great choice. At $450K, makes about half of what Daz made at Temple this year, according to the website coacheshotseat.com.

Kent State's Darrell Hazell

DARRELL HAZELL, current head coach, Kent State _ Hazell took a team that Temple beat, 36-14, last year (he wasn't head coach then) and beat the living daylights out of a Rutgers' team that blew out Temple this year, 35-10. Hazell had Kent State (remember, Kent State we're talking about here), 11-1 before losing the MAC title game in overtime to NIU. Hazell has Philadelphia-area connections. He's from Cinnaminson, N.J. Currently grossly underpaid at $350K per year. Purdue is rumored to be interested.

PETE LEMBO, current head coach, Ball State _ Had Ball State, a team Temple beat, 42-0, last year, go 9-3 and earn a trip to the Beef O'Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla. Like Temple, Ball State beat South Florida. Unlike Temple, Ball State also owned a win over a Big 10 team. Knows all about the area having been head coach at Lehigh University. Not a sexy pick (just look at the photo), but the guy is a damn good head football coach and not likely to get outcoached like Daz was in the Maryland game. Since Temple has plenty of talent already in place, Lembo is just the type of guy most likely to get the most out of it. Makes $400K per year.

NO TO:

MATT RHULE, current assistant offensive line coach, New York Giants _ Rhule is an outstanding young man but has no (zero) wins as a FBS head coach. He's a fine recruiter, but would be a crap shoot as a game day coach. Addazio did not think enough of him to make him sole offensive coordinator, instead bringing in Ryan Day from Boston College to be co-coordinator with Rhule. Shortly after that, Rhule left for the Giant job. Temple is too big to be the first head coaching opportunity, especially at the BCS level. I'd encourage Rhule to get a head coaching job at a place like Kutztown or Delaware and work his way up the head-coaching ladder that way. It's obvious he's well-liked at Temple, but the question you have to ask yourself is, "Does he pass the non-Temple smell test?" Would even Kent State or Western Michigan hire him for their head coaching openings? The answer is no. His first head coaching job should not be in the Big East.

TOM BRADLEY, former Penn State defensive coordinator _ Yeah, I know that photo is of Jerry Sandusky but if you hire Bradley he brings all of that Sandusky Penn State baggage with him and that's a headache Temple can't afford. Plus, Bradley is a dead fish personality and not likely to inspire a fan base like Addazio was. While Bradley has recruiting ties to Western Pennsylvania, he has no recruiting ties to Eastern Pennsylvania or South Jersey and that's where Temple needs to win the recruiting wars.

What's not to like about Diaco?Err, he's never won a game as a head coach before.True story: When Ron Dickerson was defensive coordinator at Penn State, he was widely considered the best defensive coordinator in the country, like Diaco is.When he got to Temple, he froze up and was in way over his head as CEO.Now, do I know this same thing will happen with Diaco?No.Do I want to roll the dice to find out?Definitely not.

I would love to say I'm surprised, but I'm really not. I never really liked "Daz." He always reminded me of "That Guy" from Futurama; a shill who could fake enthusiasm for pretty much anything if the money was right. I'm not nearly so naive to not recognize coaching is a business...but, honestly, I'd prefer if we let the unspoken inevitable be just that. I don't need the 1-man show, especially when you haven't done anything, except squeeze every last drop out of Golden's effort. From what's being reported, he "said goodbye" in about five minutes with, "I need to get paid." According to philly.com, he had his coaches and coordinators out and about with recruits when he decided to announce his resignation.

Good riddance. I imagine he'll take Chuck and Ryan with him (whose arrival seems EXTRA shady now in retrospect.) That's fine by me. I will not miss all of their fine play-calling. As for the next one, I dunno if I'd want Mcintyre. Temple doesn't need another hired clipboard if we are gonna survive this move into the Big Corpse.

I wouldn't mind Rhule. I'd disagree that its a "crap shoot." I think we have a rough idea of what we'd be getting, just like we did when we hired Daz; let's not forget about the endless stream of complaints from Florida fans about a stubborn OC who refused to adapt and whose greatest success was having a great boss.

Rhule was not a good OC for Temple. I don't want his first job as a head coach to be at Temple. His first job as head coach is much more suited for a place like Kutztown or Delaware. If he wins the PSAC, then he moves up to FCS. If he wins the FCS, then he moves up to the MAC. THEN if he does what Hazell did at Kent State or Lembo did at Ball State, we can talk about him moving into a job as prestigious as Temple.

McIntyre would be the easiest, most logical fit, but I just don't know how much upside there would be. What he did this year at SJSU is just shy of miraculous, but those types of coach worry me because you don't know about recruiting, improving players, or was this a one-shot deal. It does happen.

Honestly, I think Rhule is the best fit. He knows the program, knows some of the kids, is respected by staff/fans, and would provide some stability. Also, don't knock his experience with the NYG. Working with Coughlin is a crash-course in organization and in how to run a program. Also, going from OC to first-time HC is a good move in big conferences (see Mark Richt at Georgia, and even better, Les Miles at Ok. State where he went from OC of Ok. State, to the Dallas Cowboys, back to Ok State as HC.

I will says this, I wouldn't touch Tom Bradley with a 1000-foot pole. With the improvements made in facilities and overall talent, we can get a good coach. Rhule I think has the pedigree and experience to take a shot.

Temple's got to look for "red flags" in the next hiring.The "red flag" Temple ignored when it hired Jerry Berndt was that he was 0-11 the year before. The "red flag" Temple ignored when it hired Ron Dickerson was that this supposed "best defensive coordinator in the country" (Joe Paterno's words) gave up 55 points to Clemson in his last PSU game.The "red flag" about Matt Rhule is that NO OTHER FREAKING SCHOOL WANTS HIM OR HAS EVEN HEARD OF THE GUY.That's the biggest red flag at all.Let's not make the same mistake thrice.

What are your thoughts on Navy's coach Ken Niumatalolo? A proven coach who has had 5 great seasons at navy as head coach? He has beaten big time schools such as ND with a much lesser talent then temple has. He is a tremendous person and would run a tight ship and build a even stronger foundation at temple.Temple recruiting range would work perfect for his offense.

we hired Addazio 8 days after AG left...hopefully we can do this sooner and pick a better coach this time...., this is truly unbelievable..., normally you lose your coach after a successful season.., when was the last time a BCS school hired a coach w/a losing record in his previous season? was it the guy they just fired at Auburn?

I think your right on Rhule. He is an assistant line coach with the Giants. It would be one thing if he was a coordinator but he is not and does not have the credentials to be one. I dont know much about Mike Macintyre but he seems like a solid candidate. I am an OSU fan and would take Darrell Hazel in a second. You can say whatever you want about Jim Tressel but before he got caught up in compliance issues, which now look like a joke in the grand scheme, he was an amazing CEO type head coach. Hazel learned under him and probably would have been the intern head coach had he not left right before for the Kent St. job. He was an excellent recruiter and has proved he could run the show this year with the turnaround he did for Kent state. We are trying to take a step up not return to where we were and I have no problem bringing Rhule back as part of the staff as a coordinator but he is not ready to be a HC

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ken Niumatalolo. He's Hawaiian. If he was Temple coach, no doubt we'd be playing in Hawaii in a couple of days for at least a bowl game (if we already weren't in one).1) They love him in Hawaii2) more importantly, he would have squeezed every last ounce of talent from this Temple team.3) He's won (and beat Notre Dame) with impossible academy academic and military restrictions.

Still, he lost to San Jose State, 12-0, so I'd take the San Jose State guy if we had any shot at him first.

If there are FBS head coaches available who've won, I'd work my way down that list before going to K.C. Keeler.I'm very wary of going down a level, especially after the disaster Temple experienced by going down two levels (Bobby Wallace).He always loses to Andy Talley anyway and Andy must be near 70 now.

Taggart, no Philly connections.At least with MacIntyre, Hazell (who may have already signed at Purdue it's any second now), Dave Clawson, Pete Lembo, plenty of Philly and Pennsylvania and New Jersey connections.

I know some of you will think this is crazy, but what about Bobby Petrino?

Yeah he is kind of a scum bag, but this is Philly. What he did doesn't even register in this city with the sort of corruption that goes on here.

He has proven that he can win with less at Louisville, and QBs and WRs would be lining up around the block to put up his video game numbers. That type of offense would get butts in the seat at the Linc.

I like the results, not the man. Sleazeball.Not sure if he would like spending so much time in North Philly nor would I want him there.There are many good men out there who are also great head coaches, Ken. N., Mike Mac, Dave Clawson, etc. Go through the good guys first.

The problem is that the way college football is going we don't have time to build a program over years.

Nick Saban said that he see the highest level of college football being between 60 and 70 teams in 4 super conferences where they only play each other. Now I am not sure that is happening soon or ever going to happen but all the signs do point to this. At the very least the Big East could be in trouble.

Temple has one huge ace in the hole: we are in a major media market. This matters a lot right now with conference realignment.

If we were to snag Petrino we could be a top 15 team in a couple of years. One of the great things is he would be on his way to another school after he built us up. I would be fine with that specifically because of his character, but this program needs a splash. We need someone who will change the culture over night. Unfortunately, Temple is simply not going to be able to get anyone like that with no blemishes. I really feel like at this moment in time we need to roll the dice because if we don't our destiny may be taken out of our hands by the business of college football.

Unfortunately Mike you want to have your cake and eat it too. You want a coach that all the other teams want, but look how that turned out with Addazio and Golden. People wanted them and they didn't even hesitate to jump at the positions. McIntyre is a one and done type of guy. We don't need that here. I'll take the faithful wife over the hot blonde that flirts with everyone else and leaves me a week later. Im sure BB has a boat load of candidates that we haven't even thought of. Hopefully we hire someone withing 8 days like we did with Frauddazio.

I think the Owls need to balance the on-field performance with the classroom side of things. If the ultimate goal is to become relevant, the better conferences look at both sides of the equation (e.g. ACC, B10). The owls haven't demonstrated the ability to deliver attendance and have only recently developed a somewhat competitive team. Academically and on-campus living have improved significantly in the past decade but we're still not a top-tier school in those areas.

I like the idea of selecting a MAC coach to Temple but think he needs to have strong recruiting ties in the north east and high standards of behavior. I always thought Daz was a bit disingenuous and was surprised he got a hall pass on the situation with UConn shortly after he was hired by the Owls. I also thought the team really under-achieved this season and regressed throughout the season. He's leaving a lot of young players behind for the next coach but outside of a few standouts I'm not certain how much there is for the next guy to work with. AG left a team my mom could have coached to six wins.

Honestly, I'm surprised a BCS school with all BC has going for it (e.g. beautiful campus, great academics) is interested in him. I think his first season he took a very talented Owls team to a good season with a victory over a mid-tier opponent. During his tenure he never led the team to an upset over a heavily-favored team, was unable to innovate for opponents, was dubious at assessing talent (e.g. Chester Stewart, entire defensive secondary) and didn't stay around long enough to establish his recruiting prowess.

Sorry to post again, but does anyone know whether daz can take any of the verbal commits with him to BC? He seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't have any objections and I recall AG, a much more upstanding guy in my opinion, taking a stud with him to Miami.

Not all that concerned with guys leaving for a bigger school.Michael talked about the faithful wife. Well, if the faithful wife is Rosanne Barr and you are miserable for the next four years she's just not worth it.If the girl who leaves you after two wonderful (say, BE championship) years is Judd Apatow's wife (I can't remember her name, but I think she's the sexiest thing walking the planet), you can die with a smile on your face even after she leaves you.If you hire Bobby Petrino, it's like having a three-way with Jennifer Anniston and Angelina Jolie and your best friend is Brad Pitt, but you never let him know and you feel like crap about it afterward.Petrino is intriguing but can't deal with the guilt and I'm not digging Roseanne Barr (Matt Rhule) at all.Give me Judd Apatow's wife (for purposes of this analogy), Mike MacIntyre. If she leaves me, she leaves me.

Now, after that break, Bill Cubit also fits my criteria and he's way above Matt Rhule and way below MacIntrye and Hazell (I think he's at Purdue anyway) and Lembo.I WOULD TAKE CUBIT OVER ANY ASSISTANT COACH, EVEN THE NOTRE DAME GUY.Cubit is interesting. His kid played QB at Rutgers and he was OC at Rutgers.Temple hasn't had a win over a Big 10 team since 1990 (Wisconsin).Cubit has beaten eight (8) Big 10 teams since then as Western Michigan head coach.Only drawback is Temple would be hiring a guy who WMU fired and that's not a good PR move.

I "discovered" Leslie Mann on the stairmaster at LA Fitness watching one of those movie channels. I thought to myself, "Who is this girl? She's absolutely magnetic, I'm that much drawn to her. She reminds me of someone." Now she's in a blockbuster hit. I'm going to see it. (Sorry, Cecily, the weather wasn't on TV at the time.)

I grew up with Harry Litwack, John Chaney, Skip Wilson, Wayne Hardin, even Bruce Arians.Dunph is out of that same mold.Arians would have stayed here "Temple Football" Forever if they didn't fire him.He turned down an offer to be head coach at Virginia Tech because "I could not leave Temple."Virginia Tech was his alma mater and I asked him why he was so loyal to Temple.He said:"Mike, that's easy. They gave me a head coaching job when I was 31. They believed in me. I'm not leaving until the job is done."Virginia Tech hired someone else instead.His name was Frank Beamer.Arians went on to the NFL.They don't make loyalty like Litwack, Hardin, Wilson, Chaney and Dunphy anymore.

I'd be a bit wary of NFL position coaches who want to become college head coaches as well. My alma mater and your future Big East conference mate Tulane Univ. hired the N.O. Saints WR coach in Curtis Johnson. Johns came in and said all the right things. He's a local guy who coached at Da U and was with the Saints when they won the SB. Johnson is a hellofa recruiter. TU's classes with back-to-back 2-10 teams have been way over what a team should return in talent for their record of success. Johnson came in and got everyone excited until the first few games. They were blowouts. Granted the teams we played are now going to bowls but the first half of the season was fugly. Even as the season progressed and the team played better than expected at times there still are questions about his game day decision making. It seems like he's had to do some on the job learning and that's something you don't want.Temple is now more of a destination job. It's the sort of job some guy will want to come to and stick around for awhile. The guys mentioned with Philly ties are great to know about. It sounds like the school is in it to win it so I hope they get a guy who knows what he's doing because he's done it before. The track record of NFL assistants who've become college HC is littered with a lot of busts.

The biggest difference between Curtis Johnson and Matt Rhule is that Johnson was never even a coordinator before becoming HC. That is a recipe for disaster (see Tim Brewster at Minnesota for the best example of that.)Someone going from OC, to the NFL, to HC actually has had success. No promises, but it's been done.

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